What works for offenders and staff: Comparing two multi-agency approaches to offender resettlement (original) (raw)
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In 2013 a joint report by the Inspectorates of Probations and Prisons in England and Wales concluded that offender management in prisons was ‘not working’ and called for a fundamental review. This article considers why existing arrangements have failed and draws upon theory and research on resettlement, case management and desistance from crime, to define what a more effective system of ‘rehabilitative resettlement’ – both inside prison and ‘through the gate’ – might look like. It also comments on emerging proposals for radical change, including abandonment of the ‘end to end’ model of offender management by an outside probation officer and the development of ‘rehabilitative prisons’, in which more responsibility is placed on prisoners for managing their own rehabilitation, and a formal motivational role is created for large numbers of prison staff.
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This paper is the second in a series that investigates the involvement of the third sector in the resettlement of prisoners. Working paper 57 found that nearly 20,000 third sector organisations reported engagement in work with offenders through seven resettlement pathways. The current paper scopes prisoners’ experiences of these organisations by presenting key findings of an all-prisoner short survey distributed in eight prisons nationally. The findings indicate that prisons engage with an average of 20 organisations, but respondents are aware of an average of only four organisations and report engaging with no more than one. There is an apparent mismatch between the stated involvement of TSO in work with offenders in prisons and prisoners’ awareness and use of their services. The main policy and practice implications of these findings are discussed, including one proposed solution to introduce more systematically third sector co-ordinators in prisons, who could improve marketing as...
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The place of the officer- offender relationship in assisting offenders to desist from crime
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The legitimacy of offender management programmes in a post-TR landscape
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the under-considered perspectives of service users engaged in various community sentences based on a “strengths-based” approach to desistance. Further to recent changes in the sector, the paper considers service user views for programmes delivered by combinations of agencies from private, public and third sectors. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on analysis of 64 semi-structured interviews with users of four programmes, accompanied with informal fieldwork observations by the researchers as they carried out the research at the premises of service providers. Findings The research finds that service user perceptions of the legitimacy of programmes are closely related to their understanding of three key dimensions: first, the “authenticity” of those delivering the service; second, the instrumental (in broad terms) gains they expect from engagement; and third, their understanding of the identity and ethos of the programme. Or...